


Never Be The Same

by frejajolie



Series: Once: Tom Riddle's Only Love [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, One Shot, One Shot Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 06:43:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14350077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frejajolie/pseuds/frejajolie
Summary: Years after they met on the platform to Hogwarts, Tom and Freja have a decision to make. If you ask Tom, it's Freja who needs to make the decision. He's not going to like the answer.





	Never Be The Same

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is my OWN interpretation and it's obviously AU and might be slightly OOC. I've written him the way I picture him to be in my head. And when I'm writing him, I always see Chamber of Secrets Riddle. Christian Coulson does it for me. Anyway, I'm not looking for criticism. Just a place to clear my thoughts.

“It isn’t as simple as you want it to be, much as you keep pretending it is.” Freja said in exasperation, she always got like this when they had this conversation. It was always absolute and while she was the one saying it wasn’t simple, he found it to be plain. “ _It is, actually. The world needs to be purged. Don’t you want a world of other wizards and witches like us ? Think of it--think of how the world will be when we have children_.” He was playing the children card again as if that were a fair card to play because he knew how much she wanted to have his children and to be his wife. “That really was a low ball comment, Tom.” She wanted to be angry, angry that it was so easy for him to make a choice over her but she struggled with the sheer weight of her conscience because she loved him but didn’t want people to die. How was that fair ?

“ _There isn’t room for discussion, Freja. You make the choice--either you jump with me or you don’t. I told you that the decision is plain. It is simple, do you love me or not ?_ ” For a question she already knew the answer to, it seemed a heavy answer and a multi-faceted one at that. “Of course I love you. I’m mad for you! I’ve only spent every waking moment of my life since that day we met, with you, at your side! How can you ask me that question as if it were so fucking simple! IT’S NOT. I don’t want people to die. I can love you as much as I do and not agree with what you want, Tom. People don’t always bend the way you want them to, no matter how you try to force it. Isn’t that what you love me for ? That you can’t bend me every which way when it comes to certain things or have you just spent this entire time placating me ?”

That was it. Sure. As if he had the time to placate anyone, or the patience, for that matter. “ _Are you going to make this jump with me or am I to do it alone ? Are we to be enemies on opposing sides, Freja, is that it ?_ ” He was so good, so bloody fucking brilliant at making her feel so small for a basic human thought. She woke up and wanted something simple and he woke up and wanted to edit the entire world and it’s view and the people in it. And then she was crying. He hated when she cried. Mostly because he saw no way to comfort her other than his giving in and he couldn’t do that. Not now. It was too far and he’d done too much. Not that he would want to give it up anyway and have a simple life. He was made for greatness. “ _Say something_.” It came out in a plea, more than a demand and he hated himself for letting her get him to that point. He wanted the world right for her as much as himself. He wanted it to be filled with people who were worthy of him--and her. Of course he loved her. He thought himself incapable and she wormed her way in. Damn her.

It said everything to him--the breath that she took when he told her to say something and the way her eyes looked when she finally lifted them from the floor. “I can’t.” She said it so small, so broken that he almost felt his heart shift. And here he thought that he never had one. His upset turned to rage and he grabbed a hold of her at the neck until her back hit the wall and she was choking his name. How dare she ? How dare she choose the lives of others of her life with him ? She wasn’t frightened, she just held his wrist and looked into his eyes and there may not have been words for those few seconds but that silence said it all. “ _If you’re on the other side, then you are my enemy. So watch yourself._ ” He let her go and she crumpled to the floor, gasping and touching her throat where he had a grip. “ _And stand your ground. Don’t come crawling back. I don’t want you._ ” That was a lie but his pride was wounded from her rejection and he knew that his telling her that would hurt her far worse than anything he could do physically.

He was gone. She could scarcely believe that he was gone. But he was right. Telling her that he _didn’t want her_ broke something within, knowing that she couldn’t go back even if she wanted to because he didn’t want her. Her chest heaved violently with the force of her sobbing. She didn’t care about the bruising on her throat. She only cared that he didn’t want her anymore. She felt, as if she’d made a grave mistake. How could she be on the other side ? She didn’t fear death or his harming her. She feared being face to face with him and having to make the choice again because deep inside of her she couldn’t help but feel she made the wrong one. Nothing would ever be the same.


End file.
